An Incredible Survival Story

I received an exciting package in the mail the other day—a copy of Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson and Susy Flory. You may have heard of Michael and his Guide Dog Roselle, who survived the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center by descending 78 flights of stairs then narrowly escaping being crushed by Tower Two. Mike and Roselle have appeared on CNN’s Larry King and many other television shows. Thunder Dog portrays their 9/11 experience in powerful detail, while also weaving in key events from Mike’s unique upbringing, raised by parents who refused to treat their blind son as handicapped. Scenes include Mike frightening neighbors by riding his bike around town unattended, driving a car around his college campus, and even accepting an offer to fly an airplane. During his escape from the World Trade Center, we see the tight bond between Guide Dog and handler prove lifesaving, as well as experiencing the faith, courage, and perseverance that kept Mike, Roselle, and many others going on that terrifying day.

Susy Flory (a friend of mine) introduced me to Mike and Roselle several months ago, so I have a special interest in this book. Immediately, I found myself inspired by Mike, not only because of his incredible story, but much more so because of his enthusiastic spirit and his commitment to educating the public about living with blindness. As he puts it, there is very little that the blind and visually impaired can’t do, we simply do things differently. As one who has been visually impaired since birth, his attitude and outlook makes me want to get out there and try more than I have already!

If you are looking for an exciting, inspiring book to wrap up your summer, look for Thunder Dog at your local bookstore or on Amazon. You might even fall in love with Guide Dogs like my youngest son and I did.

Tips from the Dog Trainer

Our new dog, Belle, just started obedience training. When we took her out of the car for her first session she immediately started lunging forwarding, trying to run off and play. Other dogs barked, squealed, jumped on their owners, or found other ways to reveal why they needed to attend doggie charm school. Every quirk in every dog came out during that first embarrassing class.

One lady showed up with a Chihuahua who had a terrible case of little man syndrome. When he saw his classmates—all larger dogs—he made it clear that he planned to bite the toes off any lab, sheep dog, or pit bull that got in his way. I expected Guy, the trainer, to instruct the rest of us to protect the poor little lamb from our mean hulks. Instead, when he had the class form a circle, he put the yipping Chihuahua in the middle.

“I’m doing this for a reason,” he explained. “Little dogs have a habit of getting in big dog’s faces and occasionally need to be cut down to size.” He gently told the owner about the importance of teaching small breeds to leave big dogs alone. “The truth is a Chihuahua is about the size of a large squirrel. You know what big dogs like to do with squirrels.” That pint-sized pooch needed to be humbled, disciplined, and trained for his own protection.

This morning, when Belle managed to escape our back yard through a damaged section of fence, I realized that she needs training for the same reason. Seeing her run toward me the first time I called, “Come, Belle,” proved that she has already learned a little. But she has a ways to go. We had to purchase a special collar to train her not to lunge forward when we walk her. We were ordered to go through daily rounds of “Come, Belle. Good girl. Sit. Good girl! Stay . . . ” We’re still working on “stay.” But all of this will keep her from running into the street, leaping on a small child, and dislocating my shoulder (or my husband’s or my son’s).

Belle and that vocal Chihuahua are not the only creatures that need training. We do too. Sometimes it might seem like God is trying to spoil our fun with a list of don’ts. In reality, His limits are for our protection. Think of some of the training that you’ve received from God on how to live, not just the Christian life, but life in general. How have His limits protected you?

Thank God, today, for loving you enough to put you through His obedience program. I know I have many reasons to thank Him for it.

"Let's be Friends!"

This is Belle, my son Christian’s new dog. She has starred in a few blog posts lately. Although she is almost 50 pounds she seems to think she’s a lap dog. She also lives under the delusion that our two cats, Lucia and Princess, want to be her friends. Lucia has warmed up to Belle a little but gets sick of the constant pestering. Princess has disliked the oversized intruder since Day 1. She hisses and arches her back whenever Belle comes within 20 feet of her personal space.

Princess’s new favorite routine is to sit on the highest shelf she can find in order to make herself taller and more threatening. But Belle refuses to give up. She is a needy dog with separation anxiety and wants companionship. She looks up at Princess with her big brown eyes as if to say, “Why can’t we all just get along? I’m really very nice.”

I even went so far as to remind Princess that she has no room to think of herself as superior. “You come from the same background, you know. Same shelter and everything.”

On Day 3 of Belle’s new life in the Hanscome house she and Princess had an inevitable standoff. They met unexpectedly in the laundry room. I noticed, right off the bat that Princess didn’t look quite as confident without the added height that a book shelf provided.

“Not feeling quite so cocky now, are you, Princess?” I teased.

She looked at me like she wanted to hiss, “Why don’t you shut up! Who is responsible for this creature anyway? I need to know whose shoe to cough up a hairball in tonight.”

Then, in one heart-stopping moment, Belle tried to take advantage and step a little closer, Princess made a run for it by jumping over Belle, Belle defended herself against the oncoming attack by standing to her full height, causing Princess to miss the hurdle, and she ended up clawing her way over Belle’s back. Both ran from the scene in a flurry of hisses and yelps.

For a week Belle trembled in fear at the sight of Princess. She didn’t even need to arch her back. Belle still gave her the sad eyes. She still wanted to be friends. And you guessed it, the fear has worn off and she is back to being the thing that won’t leave. Obviously, the attraction isn’t mutual and probably never will be. I can’t help wondering, why won’t Belle give up and just be happy with the idea that Lucia sorta likes her and has come within inches of touching noses with her? Lucia doesn’t hiss half as much (only when Belle tries too hard or barges in when Lucia is getting the affection—see, told you she was needy) and doesn’t have back-mauling claws like Princess does. Lucia is sweet; Princess is . . . I’m sorry to say . . . a little brat. Even when she gets cut down to size as she did in the laundry room, she still cops an attitude around the tender newcomer.

It reminded me of the times in sixth grade when I tried very hard to gain acceptance from the “cool group” in my class even though half those girls were snots. Then there was the time in high school dance class when a group of girls snubbed me for NOT snubbing someone else and I still wanted them as friends (again, because I considered them cool, even though, when I think about it now, they weren’t really, only good at making people think they were). And then there was the time when . . . Well, maybe I better stop. This is enough proof that I have a pretty pathetic background when it comes to one-sided friendships.

I almost want to say, “Belle, Honey, you deserve so much better. Give it up.” I’m sure she’ll continue to learn the hard way, as I did. But she is only a dog and I’m an adult human being who knows better. Watching Belle is a good reminder to take the precious friendships that God has sent me instead of attempting to hang on to something that is one-sided, or even damaging. Thankfully, there is nobody like that in my life now, but I’ve had more than my share. Praise God for learning experiences that showed me, “Don’t bother with those that hiss and arch there backs and claw their way over you. You deserve better!”

And so do you! How do your friendships and choices in who you try to get closer to reflect this?

Your Friend,
Jeanette